Dec 16

Sorry I´ve taken so long to get the Skype plans. I had to call the mission president this morning to ask him about it. He authorized me to use a computer from a member´s house. So I´m going to try for Christmas day in the morning. We have the whole week but I think that Christmas day would be the best. I´ll confirm the details next week. Also my companion was wondering if he can use your account too to call his family? I also don´t know the time difference between here and there.

This week was really great. We´ve been really concentrating on the less active members, and it has really been a joyful experience to see some of them return to the church and to see the difference in them and in their family. I love teaching the less active members because they´re always great people tht just need some help coming back. I loved president Monson´s message in the Liahona recently called to the rescue. It´s all true. Work with less actives there too.

We are teaching a lady named Karen. She is the daughter of a member couple, and her brother is also member. He got bak from his mission a year ago or so. She is progressing really well with the help of her family. She´s going to get baptized on the 28th of this month and has really shown the desire to do so. But she has her interview this Thursday and we still have a lot of eaching to do. She gets back from work every day at 8:30 at night, so teaching her has been a real challenge with the rule to be home at 9. But She can be ready. We assigned her brother to do some of the teaching.

I´m going to send photos of another investigator named Yandry. she´s only an 13 year old. She also is great but has some problem keeping the commitments to read the Book of Mormon and attend church becuase she´s out of school and getting a little lazy. but we have some great youth from the ward working with her and talking to her every day. This ward does a great job with helping the investigators.

I´m doing great down here. It feels weird that it´s Christmas time, I think because it´s hotter than ever and we work hard just like always. I´m going to have to send my shirts to a lady to sew them smaller pretty soon. Also the tread of the Rockport shoes is really soft and is wearing out really fast, but there are people here who can put on a new sole for cheap. You get what you pay for there, but I think it will work for a while.

My companion and I get along well. He works hard even though he´s got less than a month left. When Elder Uceda was here his wife talked about things that a mom hopes for her missionary son. She said that they don´t ask that their son has a good companion but that he is a good companion. So I try to do service a lot and really just get along really well.

I love you and hope you have a good week.

Elder Wilson

Dec 9

Soccer today. Note the horrible tanlines on my neck. I guess that´s a missionary classic

Daniel and his family. I don´t know why it looks like I got photoshopped in there. It was an awesome baptism

____________________________

This week was great. I´m sending a lot of pics

Daniel´s baptism was awesome. A lot of members came which is always the goal. Plus a lot of little kids came which I loved because the kids here are the best. We get along really well.

Elder Uceda was also really great. He chewed us out like they always do. I did well on the piano. Something I realized is that the church is really revolutionizing the mission system. Learn more on the church website about pressuring the work. They call it now the work of salvation and it´s all about working with members and teaching a lot of less active members. Yesterday not a single investigator came for the first time in months, but a less active member came and it was incredible to see him there. It really does bring a lot of joy.

In transfers I stayed with Elder Franco. It´s his last transfer of the mission so we´re determined to stay strong until the last minute. This week  I also heard about Susana, who got baptized in Los Robles, from the missionaries there. She´s still super strong, and now her son and 3 daughters got baptized. I love this work. 

Children I hear from Krysti that you´re having problems with eating oatmeal. Every morning I eat raw oatmeal in milk. With a lot of chocolate milk mix. So really I can´t blame you if you don´t like it. Haha sorry Krysti I can´t help you.

I love you all and hope you have a great week. Also I hope you watched the Christmas devotional. It was great as usual. How are you doing with the nonmember family that you invited to church? Do you still talk to them?

Love,

Elder Wilson

Dec 2

Christmas here is a huge deal. Everyone repaints their house a new color, decorates the streets super nice, and works like a maniac to have extra cash for the parties and whatnot. it makes it hard to find people. The put me as the snowman for my size

Hello family!

Sorry but I dont have the Skype plans yet. I guess in this mission they give us a week to do it because the internet cafes fill up so much. I asked president today in my weekly letter what the schedule is exactly and if he would let me do it in a members house.

This week Elder Uceda, the Area President, is coming to our mission. We are all super excited. Except they assigned me to play the piano so now I have to pick out some hymns and practice. I had to play for the fireside with Pte Searle the other week and I realized that so long without playing has really taken a toll on my skills. I hope I can play well, pray for me!

We have transfers again this week. I really cant predict what will happen. Its 50 50 that my companion goes, so I really cant say. This tranfer has been way tough. We have worked and worked and worked without seeing hardly any results. By the way we walked about 50 miles this last week. But Im not sure how accurate the pacemarker is, I think we walked more. But the point is that at last the Lord seems to be blessing us with results. We got a reference from a member this week who asked us about baptism before we could ask her, and she seems way excited about it. Daniel is getting baptized this Saturday. We were able to find a lot of new investigators this week, and a lot are progressing. So its really great to see that the Lord was trying our faith and pacience, but now is blessing us with some results. Actually I think that my whole mission has been a huge trial of faith because my companion told me it was the hardest transfer of his mission but I thought it was normal based on my past.

I bet its super snowy there by now, and Im jealous. Its hotter than ever here.

Im going to have to cut this letter a little bit short this week because I want to send pics and sometimes it takes a while to upload them. But I love you, and hope you all had the greatest Thanksgiving ever. I forgot it was thanksgiving until I was lying in bed Thursdaynight. But I still fell asleep right away. I dont think that in the entire mission its taken me more than 3 minutes to sleep any given night.

Love,

Elder Wilson